november 2022
A few months after the events of
jurassic world dominion

He gasped and seized up, almost as if his muscles were locking in place. His eyes found Zach’s, also wide with what could only be described as unease. Both boys remained silent and frozen, long after the echoing crack in the skies had faded away.

        "Zach," muttered Gray softly.

        "What."

        "Doesn't it...sound...like...?"

        Zach nodded. "Uh. Yeah. Yeah, it does. A little." He set his laptop down again and removed the headphones completely from around his neck. "Sorry. I...should've figured you'd be freaked out too."

       Gray sighed heavily. Bitterly. "It really sucks."

       Zach tried to smile and he breathed out an irritated laugh. One quick beat. "Yeah. Yeah, it does."

       "I can't believe there was a time when I actually liked dinosaurs." Gray decided to voice his thoughts aloud from earlier. 

       This comment piqued his brother's interest. Zach leaned forward and rested his forearms on his knees. His expression went from concerned to inquisitive. "What--you've suddenly decided that you don't?"

        "It's not really suddenly."

        "C'mon." Zach smiled. "Look, I get how you feel about the Indomino. I do too, but--"

        "Indominus, Zach."

        "Whatever." Zach shook his head. "But it's not like you've stopped loving dinosaurs. Even after Jurassic World, you were going on and on about how you wanted to join the freaking DPG when you were old enough." He gestured back to his closed laptop, referencing the article he'd been reading only minutes ago. "It's too bad it got shut down."

        "Yeah, well a lot's changed," Gray grumbled.

        "Sure, but--"

        "Look at everything that's happened, Zach." Gray's voice cracked. He propped himself forward as the emotions rose within him. The clouds outside voiced their agreement and the weight of the rainfall intensified. "I'm not just talking about Jurassic World. The Lockwood incident. Biosyn." He counted off each example on his fingers. "Mom told us about that Dimorphodon attack in Madison last week! Dimorphodons, Zach. Remember those?"

        Zach nodded slowly. "Um, yeah." He cleared his throat and gestured to the space in front of his face. "Long snouts. Ugly. Sharp teeth."

        "So, yeah." Gray sighed. "Maybe-- Maybe...I used to love dinosaurs, Zach. But that was before I saw them killing people. And now... now they're everywhere."

        "Not all the dinosaurs--"

        "Stop, just stop." Gray said, the finality in his tone effectively shutting his brother down. The house grew quiet again. The rains outside softened. The television droned on in the background. Zach watched his brother turn away from him in the recliner, bringing his arms to his chest, bringing his knees up. He let out a long breath. "I'm...sorry," he said finally. 

        Gray didn't respond.

        Zach thought a moment. He scooted down the sofa, just a little bit closer to his brother. "I just... I know I'm probably not doing a very good job of making you feel better. I was...never really good at that."

        Gray still said nothing.

        "Can you answer one more thing for me?"

        "What."

        "Can you still...name them all?" Zach asked tentatively.

        "What?"

        "The dinos. I mean, we hear about 'em all the time now, but I still can't remember their names. What did you just call those creepy flying ones? Dimorpho...?"

        "Dimorphodons."

        "And the Indominus." Zach made sure to say it right this time. "I'm still impressed you remember its name."

        "I'm surprised you don't. It almost killed us."

        Zach's mouth twisted up. He watched his sibling curl more tightly into himself as if he were retreating from the world. He asked Gray another question: "There was this one you were, like, super obsessed with as a kid. What was it called?" He began snapping his fingers, as if each sound would help jog his memory.

        Gray was growing weary. "I don't know." He heard his brother get up from where he was seated, which finally prompted him to look back in his direction. He was a little surprised to see Zach rounding the coffee table and approaching the recliner. "What are you doing?" he asked.

        "I think it started with a...T?" Zach's tone was still soft and encouraging, but there was a strange expression on his face now. Something almost...playful?

        Gray tried to think back to that time before, that time when he did love dinosaurs, when he used to view the fact that he had family in the business of making them as the icing on the genetically-modified cake. "Are you talking about the T-Rex?”

        "Oh, yeah! It sounded similar!" Zach smirked, snapping his fingers again.

        Gray was now very much confused. He turned onto his back, so that he was lying flat again, legs extending outward again. He pulled himself up in the seat, locking eyes with his brother's twinkling brown irises. There was something about that look... It was familiar, and for some reason, it made him nervous.

        Zach stopped at the base of the recliner, standing tall over his brother, his form silhoutted by the incessant glow of the television. "I think it was...the Ticklesaurus Rex." He cracked a mischievous grin. "You remember it?"

        Gray went wide-eyed again, but now for an entirely different reason. His heart drilled down into his stomach. He hadn't heard the name of that "dinosaur" since he was five. His first instinct was to run. In a panic, he tried to push himself up from the chair. "No! Z-Zach, are you insane?"

        Zach didn’t verbally respond. Instead, he leaned forward, lowering himself, arching his fingers, pulling his arms tight against his ribcage as if to mimic the stance of a predator. Gray had to admit that it looked more Raptor than anything else.

        “You're joking, right? W-what are you d-doing…?” he whimpered.

        “Eyeing my prey,” Zach said with a sincere shrug.

        "N-no! Zach! I swear. Don't! Get aw-awayhay!" Gray began to giggle helplessly. This was completely out of nowhere. It’d been years since Zach had really touched him, let alone tickled him. The mere fact that Zach had hugged him so many times back on Isla Nublar--it’d meant more than he could ever know. This, however… Gray had no idea what to do with this--his twenty-three-year-old brother was about to full-on tickle him, just like when they were kids.

        “What’s wrong?” Zach asked flatly, fingers still descending toward Gray’s stomach.

        "Za-hahach! Don't you daharehare! I'm serious!" Gray could only whimper and shake his head, raising his hands up to try and fend off his fingers. He didn't know how else to respond.

        “W-what?” Zach laughed, watching his younger brother ball up into a fetal position. “Gray, I haven’t even touched you yet.”

        “Nohoho! I'm not in the moohoohood!”

        “Who's ever in the mood to get tickled?" Zach said.

        "Just stahap!" 

        "Look, if you’re gonna laugh, a might as well be tickling you,” Zach teased and finally touched down on Gray’s stomach with full force. His nimble fingertips immediately slipped beneath Gray’s white tee and prodded into the warm, tender flesh.

        Gray squealed. It was a sound he wasn't aware he was capable of producing. “EEEEEEEHEEHEEHEEHEE!”

        Zach chuckled, raking his fingertips down his brother’s smooth flanks.

        “AAAAAHHAHAHAHAHA!” Gray yelped and rolled onto his side, kicking his legs. His frantic laughter began to drown out the heavy rains outside.

        “Damn, Gray! I really don’t remember you being this ticklish!” Zach chuckled. 

        Gray didn’t remember it either. This was terrible. His brother’s fingers were like little Compys scampering across his skin. His whole abdomen was tingling. Zach began to knead his sides--thumbs up top playing with the flesh at the slight divots above his hipbones, while his fingers beneath were sliding around the edges of his back. Shivers shot up Gray’s spine and laughter continued to bubble up through his tight lips. “AggghhahaHA!”

        Zach’s hands clamped down harder, each squeeze was like a jittering jolt of energy that ricocheted around his insides before bursting up through his esophagus like a firecracker. “Heheheh,” Zach teased, sticking his tongue out through an open-mouthed grin as he continued his work.

        Gray couldn’t see much, his eyes squeezing shut from the ticklish spasms seizing his upper body. “HAHA! ZAAAAHAAAAHAAACH!” he pleaded as his brother began to slide his hands up toward his ribs. The laughter-inducing sensations amplified. 

        “The Ticklesaurus shows no mercy!” Zach taunted, almost uncharacteristically. Another flash of distant lightning cast sporadic bursts of blinding light into the otherwise dark living room.

        “I H-HAYHAYHATE THE TIHIHIHICKLESORHORHORHORUHUHUHS!” Gray screamed, eyes scrunched shut. The muscles in his face were tight. He felt the prickle of sweat at his hairline. He began to blindly reach up and slap at his older brother’s attacking arms. This, however, just gave Zach an opening. His strategic fingers bolted up into Gray’s hollows, which were lined with soft, delicate hairs.             

        “AAAAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!” Gray screeched, eyes shooting open.

        “Now what, huh?!” Zach giggled.

        "NOHOHOHO!!! I C-CAN'T TAYHAYHAYHAKE IT!” Gray protested. Zach’s fingers continued to nibble away at his sensitive underarm flesh and Gray squeezed his biceps tight against his chest in an effort to pinch them out.

        “Not gonna work,” Zach pointed out. His eight fingers were working their magic on his little brother’s armpits, but his thumbs were still free. He pressed down on Gray’s nipples, each also lined with a small ring of hair, and he began to stroke the tender skin in circular motions.

        “AGHKPTH! AGGGHAHAHA! HAHAHAHA!” Gray bucked upward, and tried to turn away again. Zach responded by advancing further, swinging his legs over his brother’s waist. Gray felt the weight of his sibling locking him down against the recliner. Zach was only a little taller than him, but decently heavier.

        “Hey, Gray,” Zach prompted, pausing mid-tickle, “You at least still like the Ticklesaurus, right? Screw those other ones.”

        Gray took the opportunity to catch his breath, his chest rising and falling as his grateful lungs took in air. He stared into his brother’s glowing face, his own tear-filled baby blues catching on Zach's smiling eyes of brown. True, Gray had to admit that this tickle torture was absolutely awful, but it was also…kind of...fun?

        Another roar of thunder resonated throughout the house, but this time, the sounds only made Gray giggle softly. Yes, he was feeling helpless, trapped beneath his brother, but it was a good kind of helpless this time…

        This wasn’t the Indominus.

        This was Zach.

        “N-no!” Gray managed to say.

        “Oof, wrong answer.” Zach warned, applying a few quick, succinct squeezes to his brother’s armpits. "Say it."

        "S-SAY WHAT?!” Gray repeated with a tight grin.

        “You like the Ticklesaurus,” Zach demanded, tickling again.

        “Nonohohoho!” Gray refused, a torrent of gurgles rolling up from his stomach.

        “Saaaay it!”

        “NOOHOHO!"

        “Fine.” Zach playfully growled, suddenly sliding back off of his brother’s waist. He turned around, back to his brother now, and planted himself on Gray's ankles, eyeing his socked feet,

        "NO!" Gray shouted. "Not my feet!"

        “Your fault,” Zach flippantly stated.

        Gray felt the socks ripped from his long feet, cold air now weaving in and out of his toes. "Not my feet, Zach!" he pleaded once more, but he knew that it was pointless. Zach struck almost immediately, fingernails skittering across his insteps.

        “HOLY CRAHAHAHAHAHAP!” he screamed, the electric jolts bursting across his bare soles like sparklers. Zach was not a merciful tickler. He always dug in hard. His fingers chomped their way into his soft skin, wriggling in a crazed frenzy.

        “HAHAHAHA! ZACH, PLEEHEEHEEASE!” Gray begged trying to pull his long legs from out of his brother’s grasp. He kicked, and writhed and pulled, but to avail. Zach held on firmly. And then he felt the fingers dive into the crevices beneath his toes. “AAAAAAAHHHHHHHHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!!! ZAAAAAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHACH!!!!!! NOHOHOHOHO!”   

        “Whoa, dahahamn!!” Zach snickered. Gray could feel the sounds jolting up from his diaphragm, rocking his body. He bucked, he squealed, he squirmed, but he was at the complete mercy of his tickle-tormenter.

        “The Ticklesaurus claims another,” his older brother announced, and Gray felt him thread his bony fingers in between his long toes, nipping at the sensitive webbing.

        This was a whole new level of ticklishness, driving the nineteen-year-old wild. Gray’s head was spinning. His cheeks were tight and cramping up from his smile. His eyes were blurry from the tears. His throat was a little sore from the screams. He was desperate and he decided to take action. After all, Zach’s sides were within reach. 

        So, Gray took a shot.
      He’d never really tickled Zach before--such a move would have ended badly for him when they were kids--but, he figured things couldn’t get much worse now than they already were. So, with as much energy as he could muster--through a bubbling onslaught of giggles and trembles--he bucked forward, reached his hands out, and brought his fingers down onto both sides of Zach's ribcage.

        "H-hehey! HEY!" Zach yelped and immediately arched backward, pulling his hands off of Gray's feet. This small moment of freedom was enough.

        “RRRRRRRGGGH!” Gray released a hybrid noise--the base sound a laugh, the rest classified (a growl) --and, high on adrenalin and playful energy, he pulled his legs out from under his sibling and leapt forward, tackling his brother. Zach fumbled sideways from the force of Gray's pounce, and the two siblings tumbled onto the carpeted flooring, all grunts and giggles and a mess of long limbs. Gray scrambled downward onto his brother's torso and gave Zach a taste of his own medicine.

        “Q-quihihihit! Ah, you bi-bihihitch!” Zach’s manly giggles were pleasing to Gray’s ears.

        “Language," Gray scolded. "You know how Mom feels about that." He ran his nimble fingers all over Zach's upper body. His brother’s stomach was flat and firm. He could feel his abs clench up as he laughed.

        “You’re such a bayhayhayhaybeehee!!” Zach chuckled as Gray explored his chest, trying to jam his fingers into his older brother’s armpits. “Ahahaha noo!” Zach dropped his head off the edge of the bed and squeezed his eyes shut.

        "I'm a baby? You're the one that started a damn tickle fight." Gray felt a lightness accumulate in his chest. It was almost indescribable, seeing his older brother, whom he always saw as the "alpha" between them, reduced to a smiling fit of giggles at his hands, Unfortunately, because Zach was stronger than he was, he didn’t get to make much progress. Every strike was usually countered or blocked with ease. Gray knew that he wouldn't have the upper hand for long, so he decided to try a different approach. He retreated from off of Zach’s body, scrambled down his skinny legs, and tried to get his own arms around his large socked feet. He had to work fast, but he'd only managed to get one of his brother's socks halfway off, before Zach started kicking.

        "No you don't!" he grunted.

        "These are coming...off!" Gray insisted, finally freeing one large, pale foot. He quickly pressed his long fingers into the doughy sole. He never realized his brother's feet were so soft.

        “Hehey!” Zach yelped. "N-noho! Get off my feet!" 

        Gray wasn’t about to listen. His fingers scrambled hungrily onto his brother’s cream-colored instep. Zach's feet were narrow, his arches pronounced. His stubby toes scrunched up immediately and he began to kick and buck around, rocking Gray back and forth along the carpet.

        "Whoa! Whoa! Easy there!" Gray teased, still managing to tickle his brother's feet, despite the fact that he was being tossed about like a pendulum. In fact, the motion aided in him pulling off the other sock. As soon as the other foot was bared, Gray advanced his onslaught, his fingertips diving beneath both sets of toes. 

        Zach roared. “STAAHAAAHAAAHAAAP!!!!! G-get awhawhawhawhawff!!” His scream was so high-pitched, his voice finally cracked too. Gray giggled--he figured that ticklish toes ran in the family. Unfortunately, his brother's next kick was successful in jarring him loose. Gray had been at a disadvantage from the start. To make matters worse, he immediately realized that Zach still had energy to burn.

        “You’re dead!” his brother declared and, after withdrawing his legs, he slid up, and tackled Gray once more, forcing him into the ground just beside the recliner. 

        "N-no, wait!" Gray started to beg. He didn't know if he could take another round, but it didn't matter. Zach was already straddling his waist again. This time, however, he forcibly pried Gray's arms up over his head, taking a wrist in each hand. After a moment, the room grew still. The sounds of weakening rain and the boys’ heaving breathing accompanied the Northeastern storm currently rippling across the sky.         

        “Any last words?" Zach asked, a smile decorating his face.

        Gray kept his eyes locked on Zach's. His heart was racing, his chest heaving. He didn't reply.

        "Last chance," Zach warned playfully. He used his left hand to lock both of Gray’s wrists in place above his head. He slowly began to lower his right hand, fingers descending down toward Gray’s exposed armpit.

        “Go to...hell?” Gray knew what he was asking for it. He could already feel Zach’s fingers ghosting in his hollow--like an anxious pressure tingling in his underarms.

        “Oh, you're the one that's about to be in hell, little bro,” Zach said with another shrug. Gray felt the fingers touch down hard. He held his breath and sealed his lips. He pulled down against Zach’s hold, but it was no use.

        Gray’s insides felt like they were going to burst. He squeezed his eyes shut, nostrils flaring. He began to shake his head violently back and forth, his long, sand-colored hair whipping across his face. His memories--once nightmares of the Indominus’s claws and jaws--were ricocheting around amongst those of Zach--his brother, running with him to safety, hugging him, holding him close in the back of Claire’s van…

        “C’mon, Gray. Give up,” Zach taunted, now sweeping his fingers across his chest and into his left pit. Gray tried to pull his arms down again, but he couldn’t. The pressure continued to build in his chest. "Admit it. You still love dinosaurs. You love the Ticklesaurus."

        Gray felt the laughter ready to dive from his tongue. His straining cheeks pulled his lips taught. A toothy grin quickly cracked through. “MMMMMHHMMMHMHMHM!!!”

        “SAY IT!” Zach demanded.

        “N-nnnnnnoooooooooo…”

        “Saaaaay it!” The hand moved back to the right armpit, Zach snaking his fingers into Gray’s sleeve the second time around. As soon as they scampered up into the damp, hairy expanse of flesh beneath Gray's arm, he broke. The crackling laughter streamed forth sloppily from his lips, shallow and breathy. "PFFFFFTTTTKKKHHEEHEEEHEEHEEHEE!"

        “Say it and I’ll stop,” Zach reasoned.

        Gray shook his head again. He pulled and pulled against Zach’s hold, but it was no use.

        “C’mon… I could do this all night,” the older boy urged, continuing his assault. Gray continued to splutter and snicker, ready to scream.

        “Okayokayokay,” he breathed, about to burst. “I-if I ssssay it, y-you promise youhoohoo’ll st-stahahap?”

        “I promise,” Zach said with a nod, pausing for a second.

        “Eeeerrrrrgh,” Gray moaned. He really didn’t want to give in, but this was absolute torture. Unfortunately, Zach really didn’t give him much of a choice. He released Gray’s wrists, brought his second hand down into his other armpit and double-teamed both hairy hollows at once.

        This was too much. The nineteen-year-old howled. “AAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHAHAHAHAHAHA!! OOOOOOHKAYHAYHAYHAYHAYHAY! OKAY!! I STILL L-LIHIHIHIKE DIHIHINOSAURHARHARHARS! HAHAHAHA, STAHAHAHAP!"

        Zach kept his promise. He immediately pulled his hands free and rolled off of Gray, bringing himself to lie down next to him on the floor.

        “Oh. My. G-god.” Gray moaned exhaustedly. He climbed back up onto the recliner, panting for air, throat and mouth dry. He stared up at the ceiling, waiting for his heartrate to slow. His nerves were still firing away all over his body.

        "Damn, I can still feel your fingers on my feet," Zach said, as if he were reading Gray's mind. In another surprising move, he decided, for some reason, to join his brother on the large armchair, forcing his younger sibling to scramble over uncomfortably to the left. They hardly fit; one of Zach's legs was propped up awkwardly along the armrest. 

        "You deserved it," Gray said.

        Zach chuckled and brought his arm around his brother. Gray immediately flinched and began to giggle, but Zach merely pulled him into a side-hug, patted his chest a few times. Gray couldn’t help but let a surprised gasp softly seep through his lips.

        “You good?” Zach asked, amusement lacing his tone.

        Gray nodded. "B-barely," he moaned.

        "Better than before?"

        "U-uh. Maybe?"

        "See? Not all dinosaurs are bad," Zach teased. 

        Gray shook his head. He really couldn't follow his brother's logic--a tickle attack wasn't about to transform a mindset, but Gray had to admit, he felt...lighter now. Present too. The fear and unease--the anger--he'd been feeling before, they'd been diluted by something soft and warm now. Sure, there were dinosaurs living among them now. But here, in this moment, Gray was with Zach, not with them. And he was safe. He knew one night didn't mean forever. There would be good days...and bad. The dreams were sure to come back. So would the uncertainty. But that was okay. He was okay. For now. And in that moment, it was enough.

        "I guess that's true," Gray muttered after a long moment. "And, technically, the Indominus wasn't a real dinosaur."

        Zach breathed a laugh. "Yeah, the 'real' dinosaurs ended up kicking its ass, remember?"     

        Gray nodded. "I remember." As he continued to reflect on the events during and after the brief reign of the Indominus Rex on Isla Nublar, he found himself appreciating something that he sometimes took for granted. If it hadn't been for what had happened at Jurassic World, Gray wouldn't have become as close as he was now with Zach; their parents might not have come back from the brink of divorce; he wouldn't have an uncle in Owen or a cousin in Maisie.  There was some good that come from his experience after all. Not just trauma, but a stronger family...a larger one.

        "Hey," said Zach after what seemed like forever. "I think the rain stopped." 

        Gray pulled himself from his thoughts and instead focused in on the new stillness of the night, a sudden and powerful exhaustion grabbing hold of his consciousness. "Oh, yeah." He sighed, closing his eyes. “You...wanna just sleep down here tonight?”

        “What, like...this?" Zach wriggled around in place, trying to get comfortable.

        “Yeah."

        Zach chuckled. "It's...kinda weird, right?"

        Gray shrugged. "And a tickle fight wasn't? Whose idea was that again?"

        Zach grinned. "Touché. But if you start snoring, I'm out."

        Gray, eyes still closed, smiled. As he listened to the white noise of the television and his older brother's soft, rhythmic breathing, he slowly settled into slumber. Finally able to drift off without the worry of the Indominus waiting for him, Gray focused on the fact that Zach was holding him--strong arm wrapped around his neck and chest--just as he had done on the island all those years ago, back when he was trying to protect him. And all throughout the night, he never let go.